Fish Out of Water II

The time is here. My first marathon is tomorrow. Can’t say I’m not nervous, but I’m much more confident than I was a few months ago.

I followed a training plan, skipping just one workout, a 3 miler that was supposed to happen yesterday, but I was in bed sick with a stomach bug. Fortunately I’ve bounced back pretty quickly, and was able to complete the final workout this morning with no trouble.

Here is what I’ve done since September 2^nd:

63 running workouts

A total of 437.52 Miles

Running for a total of 70 hours: 52 minutes: 22 seconds

Workout #1 was an average pace of 11:22 per mile, which was my slowest run

Average pace of all running since September 2 is 9:43 per mile

Fastest pace was 8:19 per mile (a combo indoor track & treadmill run)

This training plan included 6 runs that were farther than I have ever run in my lifetime, which was a ½ marathon (13.1 miles)

Longest run, 3 runs of 16 miles each

Training for this has been long, and frankly not very fun. I know many people enjoy running, I just don’t fit in that group. As much of a struggle it is for me, I know it doesn’t compare to the struggle of every person living with Autism with every waking moment of their life. Knowing that makes it easy for me to push through.

You can track my run live on Runkeeper , and I believe it will post my progress at some point on my Facebook page. Just hope my phone battery can make it thru the whole run.

If you are interested in helping out in anyway, or just want more information, here are links to all the info:

Donate: http://opjackmarathon.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1077413&lis=1&kntae1077413=09EE77BBA65E4C8EA4ECDE5E9FCC2B52&supId=392354979

Run with me (there are 5k, half marathon, and marathon options):

http://operationjack.org/marathon/kc/

Volunteer, or help provide supplies:

http://www.signupgenius.com/go/60B094EA8AC2B0-operation

If you’re interested in learning more, check out the Facebook page:

https://www.facebook.com/#!/events/143027355877989/

Fish Out Of Water

I can’t believe I’m doing this. I must be crazy. This isn’t who I am, it certainly isn’t what I do. But, it’s important to step outside of your comfort zone once in a while. For me, that means climbing out of the water. I haven’t trained for anything outside of the water since the 2011 Rock the Parkway Half Marathon. That’s roughly 2 years and 4 months of no measurable amount of running. I found myself more than half way through 2013, and I hadn’t planned a fundraising activity for an Autism charity, something I had done for every year since getting involved with Train4Autism in 2010. Since I volunteered to help organize the 2^nd Annual Operation Jack KC Run/Walk in the Snow, it made some sense. So, I’ve set myself up for 4 months of torture while preparing to run the first marathon of my life.

I’M TERRIFIED!!

Running scares me. Running far really scares me. People hurt themselves running. One of the things I love about the sport of swimming, injuries are few and far between. Sure, with swimming I get aches and pains. But, I haven’t had any injury caused by swimming that has slowed me down since I pulled a groin 6 or 7 years ago. And I’ve swum a heck of a lot of laps in those injury free years since then. Not many runners can say that. There’s just so much pounding on the joints, it’s too easy to push it too far. So I’m being careful.

I already had RunKeeper loaded on my phone. Out of curiosity, I looked to see if it had training programs, and sure enough, they had a bunch. I found Run a Marathon in 3:30. Um, NO! Run a Marathon in 4:00. Maybe, but let’s keep looking. Run a Marathon to Finish. BINGO! That’s the one! So, I’m following the program to the letter. The program is written by a professional, and he designed it to get me to the finish line. So I’ll listen to the pro, because I have no idea what I’m doing! I started on September 2, and I’ve completed 6 of the 64 workouts. So far, so good. I was pretty worried about the first long run, 8 miles last Saturday, especially considering it followed running 4 miles just the day before. I held up fairly well, with only a little discomfort in my left foot during the last mile or so. Getting through that, I’m pretty confident I can make it through the next 58 workouts.

Today’s run:

5.38 miles in 51 minutes 55 seconds

Total since September 2:

30.18 miles in 5 hours 12 minutes 57 seconds

That’s it for now. I’ll be back to blog about my training, Operation Jack, Train4Autism, and whatever else is on my mind.

Tony